Nebraska College Student Donates Stems Cells To Save A Life On Giving Tuesday Now

(1888PressRelease) May 14, 2020 - Boca Raton, FL – Giving Tuesday Now, a special edition of the annual initiative to help non-profit organizations and charities held on May 5, provided people worldwide an opportunity to support the thousands of worthy causes dealing with the impact of COVID-19. For Gift of Life Marrow Registry donor Chaz Maschman of Lincoln, Nebraska, this was an occasion to make an incredible impact on someone—and possibly save a life.

Accompanied by his mother, the 20 year-old computer engineering student traveled more than 1,600 miles to Boca Raton amid the pandemic, and donated blood stem cells at the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Gift of Life–Be The Match Collection Center to a patient battling a rare and serious blood disease.

“I joined Gift of Life’s registry (by ordering a kit online) last June after coming across a Reddit post about the challenges of finding stem cell and marrow matches for people with blood diseases,” said Maschman. “I was surprised and excited when I became a match for a patient in need, but my donation felt especially timely when I learned it would take place on Giving Tuesday Now.”

As one of a few collection centers in the United States that is not based in a hospital setting, Gift of Life has also taken on added roles during this crisis, partnering with hospitals and other stem cell collection facilities to increase the number of collections it performs to help preserve hospital resources.

“Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, we have been working to overcome difficult conditions and global travel restrictions to ensure critical transplants are not delayed, said Gift of Life Marrow Registry Founder and CEO Jay Feinberg. “This has included routing of couriers and donors to ensure transplants happen on time, anywhere in the world, which makes donors like Chaz even more special.”

Giving Tuesday Now also provided an opportunity for Gift of Life supporters to rally around the organization’s mission to save lives at a time when every minute counts through the generosity of monetary contributions and participation in the online #Give5Tag5 fundraising campaign.

“We are grateful for the countless people who have stepped up to help us put an end to blood cancer and other diseases, especially the selfless heroes who give of themselves and our generous financial contributors. Our services have become more critical than ever and failure is not an option,” said Feinberg.

To join the Gift of Life registry from home or make a financial contribution, potential donors and contributors can visit giftoflife.org.

About Gift of Life Marrow Registry
Gift of Life Marrow Registry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. The organization, established in 1991, is dedicated to saving lives by facilitating bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood-related diseases. To learn more about Gift of Life Marrow Registry, visit www.giftoflife.org.